A wide variety of absorbent catamenial tampons have long been known in the art. It is known that the surface characteristics of a tampon may be altered physically and/or chemically to confer both aesthetic and functional benefits. The surface of tampons can be altered to have non-uniform surface topography. Some examples of tampons with non-uniform topography include a tampon that has absorbent filaments such as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,270 issued to Dostal on Oct. 3, 1972, and a tampon with a braided or rope shaped body such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,151 issued to Fitzgerald on Nov. 20, 1982 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,804 issued to Shimatani on May 11, 1982. Other tampons comprise longitudinal ribs on the outer surface such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,300 issued to Howarth on Apr. 4, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,725 issued to Brinker on Jan. 14, 1997, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,675 issued to Leijd on Feb. 17, 1998 and a tampon having spiral grooves on the outer surface such as in WO 02/078586 published on Oct. 10, 2002. While it has been found that these tampons perform their intended function tolerably well, even the best of them do not always imbibe menstrual fluid at a rate sufficient to provide good coverage against leakage. The present invention has been designed to achieve these goals while also providing an aesthetically pleasing exterior appearance for the wearer.